Liverpool vs Fulham post mortem

[dww]

The problem wasnt so much just in playing Lucas. The problem for me (or part of it) was that we had a CM pair with zero threat between them. At home, to Fulham. That, in itself, isnt good enough. Alonso offers a threat, be it in terms of being able to shoot fairly well, or in creativity terms. Mascher's just Mascher, he CAN drive forward and give tempo, but he doesnt offer much in terms of a direct threat, or a creative one. So when you have that, it's imperative that his CM partner DOES offer some kind of threat. Lucas plainly doesnt. And therein lies the problem. When you also add the absence of Gerrard and in turn, the invisibility of Keane (who was effectively in Gerrard's place), it's plain to see why it didnt happen for us today.

I said before the match I would have preferred Alonso and Lucas started. I think that Lucas struggles to impose himself on the game and is helped by others belief in Alonso as a creative force and if we took the game to Fulham I don't think they have a strong midfield in terms of defensive work.

I think more broadly we need one more goal threat from midfield, especially with Keane out of goalscoring form. Riera has been brilliant in terms of balance but with none of Alonso, Mascher, Lucas or Plessis likely to weigh in with goals from open play if they play centrally we rely a lot on Kuyt for a threat from deeper. One way out would be to be better with set pieces and that is a possibility with the staff we have, or at least you would think so. Corners in particular would seem a source of goals we don't maximise.

[Craig_H]

As usual, spot on mate.

[Resu]

It`s good to see your agree with your last post

[Craig_H]

[BigChief]

"Lol" - kinda sums up the level i'm dealing with here. Throw in a 'rofl' too, for true sophistication.

Firstly, i didnt say the Torres one wasnt a clear chance BECAUSE he created it himself. I just said i didnt consider it a clear cut chance, it was a half chance that, due to Torres being so brilliant, people expect him to just score from, with his eyes closed. Compare that chance to the one-on-one. The latter is a CLEAR CUT chance. The former doesnt compare. Now we've got that out of the way...



The above has almost nothing to do with the actual topic/question you posed. It's about as relevant to the issue at hand, as saying 'Tomorrow is monday'.

Gerrard is one big player we had missing. Sadly, it does happen and if the consequence of missing one big player, is that we cant beat Fulham at home, then we may as well pack up now.

Mascherano, Alonso and Riera did play 90 mins for Spain, yes. Same as loads of players do everytime there's an international week. Not sure how gut wrenching it was, they won 3-0 and were comfortable. But aside from that, again it's another odd excuse and if, yet again, we struggle to beat weaker opposition at home everytime our international players have played for their countries, then we might as well give up. This happens regularly during the season.



Scolari shouldnt have won this 'his' game, Chelsea should have won it. He picked the right team and they bombarded Newcastle with 14 shots ON target. 9 times out of 10, they'd win easily. There's always the odd exception, against all logic when you have so many shots hitting the target and still fail to score, but it's very rare.

It's funny that you dont want excuses for Chelsea, but reel them off readily for us.

As for Chelsea's disallowed goal, what have i swallowed? The point was that on another day, it could have counted. That's all.

In conclusion, if we'd created countless chances and bombarded Fulham with shot after shot, on target, then yeah, we're just unlucky. We didnt though. We created only a couple of CLEAR chances and the rest was more hopeful stuff. Incidentally, i'm not even sure where you're coming from with the Rafa stuff, because i havent actually blamed him in the slightest.

The team didnt perform as well as they should've done and we paid the price. Chelsea battered Newcastle, we didnt batter Fulham.

That's all there is to it. Keep asking and i'll keep giving you the correct answer. Yes, Scolari got it right.

Sophistication? You've summed me up now then? I used LOL because I have to type this in worksafe mode. I don't get to use smilies and LOL was the only way to get my feeling across. Thanks for taking this to work me out completely on my level of sophistication. (rolleyes). I guess this is WHAT I AM dealing with. (handshake, rolleyes, rofl, lmao).

Scolari RESTED Lampard, J Cole and A Cole and I don't believe Anelka played all that much midweek. We had all our key players knackered midweek, which you are failing or unwilling to grasp as you have an anti-Rafa agenda on Saturday's game.

So let's finish this conversation then saying we agree to disagree.

[Craig_H]

Sophistication? You've summed me up now then? I used LOL because I have to type this in worksafe mode. I don't get to use smilies and LOL was the only way to get my feeling across. Thanks for taking this to work me out completely on my level of sophistication. (rolleyes). I guess this is WHAT I AM dealing with. (handshake, rolleyes, rofl, lmao).

Scolari RESTED Lampard, J Cole and A Cole and I don't believe Anelka played all that much midweek. We had all our key players knackered midweek, which you are failing or unwilling to grasp as you have an anti-Rafa agenda on Saturday's game.

So let's finish this conversation then saying we agree to disagree.

Just to emphasise the sheer lunacy of your claim, i'll REITERATE what i said before - i dont blame Rafa for drawing to Fulham. So the so called (and laughably melodramatic) anti-rafa agenda claim is quite farcical.

Your point about players playing a game in midweek confuses me though. In December we've got 7 games in 28 days. So that's going to mean lots of midweek games before the weekend. If midweek games means drawing at home to weaker sides isnt a problem, i'd have to ask what your hopes are for December. Presumably then, you'd be happy enough with draws at home to Hull and Bolton then next month, on the basis that we'll be having knackering midweek games?

I'm not failing to grasp that players will be more tired if they play midweek and then on the saturday too. What i'm saying is that if you want to win the title, that excuse doesnt wash. We'll have plenty of saturday games after a midweek game and we simply have to be able to cope with it, and still win games.

[Woobus]

I'm not failing to grasp that players will be more tired if they play midweek and then on the saturday too. What i'm saying is that if you want to win the title, that excuse doesnt wash. We'll have plenty of saturday games after a midweek game and we simply have to be able to cope with it, and still win games.

Think its more down to internationals mid week as the big teams have nearly all their squad away all over the world. The smaller teams have time to rest and practice all week while the bigger teams dont have any time to prepare.
Seems to be the way as none of the top 3 managed to score and all played below there normal standards.

[dww]

Just to emphasise the sheer lunacy of your claim, i'll REITERATE what i said before - i dont blame Rafa for drawing to Fulham. So the so called (and laughably melodramatic) anti-rafa agenda claim is quite farcical.

Your point about players playing a game in midweek confuses me though. In December we've got 7 games in 28 days. So that's going to mean lots of midweek games before the weekend. If midweek games means drawing at home to weaker sides isnt a problem, i'd have to ask what your hopes are for December. Presumably then, you'd be happy enough with draws at home to Hull and Bolton then next month, on the basis that we'll be having knackering midweek games?

I'm not failing to grasp that players will be more tired if they play midweek and then on the saturday too. What i'm saying is that if you want to win the title, that excuse doesnt wash. We'll have plenty of saturday games after a midweek game and we simply have to be able to cope with it, and still win games.

I think that there is a valid point that midweek internationals are worse than games for our team. For two reasons in this particular case 1/ less time to prepare and assess the team for Rafa and 2/ most of Fulhams players were not away and will have been fitter. The fact is that in general the team that wins the title will be the one that copes best with these sorts of challenges I agree. Luckily however both of our main rivals also suffered. The fact that United had a tougher game would make it marginallly a better weekend for them possibly but the fact they are a number of points back even if they win their game in hand (extra fixture congestion to come?) means that it is probably neither here nor there.

[Skillz]

I think that there is a valid point that midweek internationals are worse than games for our team. For two reasons in this particular case 1/ less time to prepare and assess the team for Rafa and 2/ most of Fulhams players were not away and will have been fitter. The fact is that in general the team that wins the title will be the one that copes best with these sorts of challenges I agree. Luckily however both of our main rivals also suffered. The fact that United had a tougher game would make it marginallly a better weekend for them possibly but the fact they are a number of points back even if they win their game in hand (extra fixture congestion to come?) means that it is probably neither here nor there.

oh no that can't be right, Fulham's manager pointed out that his best 3 players were the one that travelled the furtherest this week.

Pity he didn't factor in our players have been playing twice a week all season, all over Europe.

[FatTony]

Babel is suffering from fewer and fewer opportunities to play. Wouldnt be surprised if he ends up wanting out.

He's been unlucky with injuries so far this season, but I agree he needs to be playing more. I've never been convinced that Babel has any loyalty to the club for some reason (a few interviews and body language), so I wouldn't be surprised to see him leave which would be a real shame as I think he is the player that has probably the most potential at the club.

[Pablo]

He's been unlucky with injuries so far this season, but I agree he needs to be playing more. I've never been convinced that Babel has any loyalty to the club for some reason (a few interviews and body language), so I wouldn't be surprised to see him leave which would be a real shame as I think he is the player that has probably the most potential at the club.

Off topic maybe, but he has apparently recently nailed Danielle Lloyd!

Oh and back to the footy, he was talking up a move to Arsenal before he joined us, I also sense he's not 100% comitted to LFC for life, but the reality is that few players have that mentality these days I afraid.

[BigChief]

Just to emphasise the sheer lunacy of your claim, i'll REITERATE what i said before - i dont blame Rafa for drawing to Fulham. So the so called (and laughably melodramatic) anti-rafa agenda claim is quite farcical.

Your point about players playing a game in midweek confuses me though. In December we've got 7 games in 28 days. So that's going to mean lots of midweek games before the weekend. If midweek games means drawing at home to weaker sides isnt a problem, i'd have to ask what your hopes are for December. Presumably then, you'd be happy enough with draws at home to Hull and Bolton then next month, on the basis that we'll be having knackering midweek games?

I'm not failing to grasp that players will be more tired if they play midweek and then on the saturday too. What i'm saying is that if you want to win the title, that excuse doesnt wash. We'll have plenty of saturday games after a midweek game and we simply have to be able to cope with it, and still win games.

There's a big difference in international midweek games and domestic. Rafa can control how hard and how much his players play during the midweek games. He had no control over the 90s min played by each of Riera, Mascha and Alonso.

Scolari did the right thing by pulling out Lampard, A Cole and J Cole thus he didn't have that quandry. So all three were fresh and fit and still misfiring. Your agenda seems to be of kissing Scolari and telling on Rafa.

[Parr_Zee]

Why are there so many references in this thread to Chelsea's 2 disallowed goals? Joe Cole was a good 3 yards offside, and the ball was no wear near crossing the line when Shay Given saved the other effort. The officials got both desicions spot on.

[BigChief]

Why are there so many references in this thread to Chelsea's 2 disallowed goals? Joe Cole was a good 3 yards offside, and the ball was no wear near crossing the line when Shay Given saved the other effort. The officials got both desicions spot on.

It gives ammo to slate our performance against Fulham for some reason. (sigh)

[Craig_H]

There's a big difference in international midweek games and domestic. Rafa can control how hard and how much his players play during the midweek games. He had no control over the 90s min played by each of Riera, Mascha and Alonso.

Scolari did the right thing by pulling out Lampard, A Cole and J Cole thus he didn't have that quandry. So all three were fresh and fit and still misfiring. Your agenda seems to be of kissing Scolari and telling on Rafa.

WHERE HAVE I CRITICISED RAFA???

It gives ammo to slate our performance against Fulham for some reason. (sigh)

You're on another planet mate.

Whether Chelsea had won, drawn or lost 84-0, is drawing at home to Fulham a good result?

Yes or no?